Fall Night Lights for End of Daylight Savings 2014

The other night my husband and I went out to dinner and on our way out the door I thought we were eating really late. But once I buckled up, a quick glance at the dashboard clock corrected me – it only felt late because it was already dark outside. And as I looked at the calendar on my phone, I realized it’s about to get darker a lot earlier because Daylight Savings ends this weekend on Sunday, November 2nd.

I’ve already decorated my home for Fall (loving the scent of my pumpkin spice candles!) and it’s about time to start using my Fall night lights. I hate coming home to a dark house in the evenings so I always leave a night light on in my kitchen. Whether you’re looking to add some light to a dark bathroom, hallway or kitchen, you’ll love creating your own custom night light at Kyle Design.

Kyle’s decorative night lights are handcrafted with her etched metal artwork and custom stained glass. Each elegant light is created just for you – choose the elegant amber glass to fit into any warm decor, or get red glass for your kitchen, blue glass for a bathroom or purple if that’s the color of the decor in your home.

The metal etched designs of Fall leaves, trees, nature, hot beverages and more come in a variety of finishes including silver, brass and gold. Kyle’s polished and brushed silver night lights look excellent in trendy homes with gray walls. If you have warmer tones, you’ll enjoy the brushed brass or polished gold night lights.

These Fall themed night lights make excellent gifts for Fall birthdays or as way to thank a host for having you over for a holiday dinner or Thanksgiving. They offer a beautiful way to decorate your home for Fall and are a great alternative to standard, tacky plastic nitelights. As we say goodbye to October and welcome November and December, let’s not let setting our clocks back result in stumbling around in the dark. Order a custom night light from Kyle Design.

(Shown at left: Brass Oak Leaf Night Light with amber stained glass; brushed silver Coffee Night Light with cobalt blue glass.)

Unique Breast Cancer Gifts Offer Encouragement for Women

As we kick off breast cancer awareness month my heart goes out to everyone who has been touched in one way or another by this terrible disease. And I imagine that’s all of us since 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. In fact, in the time it has taken me to get this far along in this blog post, one more woman has been diagnosed. But, a diagnosis is not a death sentence and I like to look at the bright side, which is that in the U.S. there are over 2 million breast cancer survivors walking our streets, playing with their kids and grandkids, sipping pumpkin spice lattes and making every day count.

So let’s celebrate the good things.

Everyone woman who has beat cancer deserves a daily reminder of how strong she is. And every woman who’s still battling needs encouragement. Let’s use this month as a reminder to embrace the time we have on this planet, to make time for those we love, and to encourage the women in our lives who are facing the toughest fight of their lives.

I love this graphic I saw on Pinterest:

Such a great quote to motivate and encourage men and women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Engrave this on a unique breast cancer gift from Kyle Design to remind someone you love that attitude is everything. Kyle’s pink ribbon gifts are all handcrafted for you and offer a fantastic way to let your mom, sister or friend know how much you love them. Create a keepsake of a loved one or shop motivational gifts for breast cancer patients to offer them daily encouragement.

 

Easily Access Your ID with This Retractive Badge Holder

If you must present an employee badge to get into your office every day – perhaps multiple times a day – you’ll love the convenience of a retractive badge holder from Kyle Design. Buy one in a neutral tone or express yourself with your favorite bright color.

Show off your personality with a fun decorative badge reel in one of Kyle’s custom crafted designs. There are hundreds of gold and silver animals, occupations, sports, hobbies, numbers, and monogram letters. You’ll enjoy wearing your customized reel to work each day. Not only is this a great way to keep track of your badge, but you’ll love the convenience of easily locating your employee ID card every time you need it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Decorative Night Lights for Kids Who are Scared of the Dark

Is your son or daughter scared of the dark?

Many small children are afraid of the dark and the best way to alleviate their night time fears is with a night light. Adding a soft, glowing light to a kid’s bedroom offers your son or daughter reassurance during the night.

At Kyle Design, we have a variety of designs that are popular for children’s rooms including the carousel night light for girls, rocket night light for boys, butterfly night light, star night light, celestial night light, fairy night light, baseball night light and more.

Click customize my nightlight to select from hundreds of Kyle’s unique designs.

Kyle’s nightlights are handcrafted so each one is created specifically for your son’s or daughter’s room. You get to select the stained glass color, the metal finish of the decorative design (shown: brass carousel and silver rocket), and the base type.

Automatic night lights are best for kids’ rooms as they turn on when it gets dark but also turn off in the early morning hours when they’re no longer needed.

Nitelights for Kids’ Rooms

Unique Teacher Gifts that Make the Grade

I’ve been hearing a lot of back to school excitement…from tired parents! You’ve got enough on your plate getting your little ones ready for the first day (new clothes! fresh haircuts! fancy backpacks! back to school supplies – does this list get longer every year?!) –  let us create a unique teacher gift that your child’s new teacher will love and appreciate on the first day of school (his or her summer vacay just came to a screeching halt after all!).

Shop Kyle Design for personalized gift ideas for teachers that feature Kyle’s unique education design as well as books, math symbols and of course a big shiny apple! Customize any gift with vibrant colors and even add an engraved message. Remember – custom gifts ship out in just 1 to 2 business days (often on the same day) – shop personalized teacher gifts to get started! Your son or daughter might end up the Teacher’s Pet on Day 1 :)

#teachergifts #backtoschool

Unique Summer Reading Gifts for Girls & Boys

Has your son or daughter spent the summer reading? Reward them with cool summer reading bookmarks. They’ll love Kyle’s small metal bookmarks in fun colors personalized just for them. Add a cute animal, sport, letter or fun design and his or her favorite color. Get a hot pink crown bookmark for a young lady who loves to read or a blue rocket bookmark for a young man who loves space and science.

Customize Your Own Fun Bookmarks for Kids

Shop unique bookmarks to browse hundreds of unique designs on gold or silver metal bookmarks which can be engraved. You’ll find cool bookmarks for kids with designs of flowers, nature, sports, games, symbols, numbers, food & more.

To custom create your own special bookmark, click Customize My Bookmark and select your favorite bookmarker style. Then, add any of Kyle’s designs to that bookmark using the Design Chooser. With nearly 30 cool aluminum and iridescent colors, you can create the perfect gift for any boy or girl who loves reading. Make it a keepsake by adding an engraved name to the back.

Customize Your Bookmark

Unique Bridal Shower Gifts for Summer Brides

Wedding Season is in full swing. With 3 of my girlfriends about to walk down the aisle, there’s a lot of exciting things going on this summer. One of my favorite pre-wedding activities is the Bridal Shower. I just love an afternoon full of women, showering the bride-to-be with gifts. One thing I always try to do is buy off the bride’s registry. While I know it’s fun to open something you requested, I think it’s even more fun to open a gift that you never saw coming, and that you just love. And who doesn’t love a gift that’s personalized?

Show the bride how special she is to you with a special gift created just for her. Kyle Design has a range of personalized gifts for the bride that you can surprise her with this summer. Here are some of my favorites:

Wine Glasses & Custom Bottle Stopper:

 

Give the bride a nice set of wine glasses and a unique bottle stopper. These wine bottle stoppers can be personalized with your choice of color and center design. Add her last initial, favorite pet or choose from hundreds of other designs.

 

 

 

 

 

“Day Of” Bride Survival Kit:

 

Help the Bride prepare for her Big Day with a Day Of Survival Kit. Personalize this adorable metal case with any 3 colors and then throw in bobby pins, a sewing needle and thread, safety pins, mints, super glue – anything that could be a life saver to the Bride on her special day.

 

 

 

 

 

Personalized Wedding Flask

 

She’s about to hit up the best party of her life – her wedding day! Help her celebrate in style with a customized wedding flask engraved with her name and wedding date. Fill it up with her favorite alcohol to help her get through some of the stressful incidents she will inevitably encounter while planning.

 

 

 

 

 

Wedding Keepsake Box

 

Add her monogram to this wooden wedding keepsake box where she can store a wedding invitation, her favorite reply cards, the card she gets from the groom and other treasures from her big day like a monogrammed napkin or matchbox. Personalize it with her wedding colors and have it engraved with her wedding date.

 

 

 

 

 

Shop Kyle Design for the Perfect Gift:

For more great Bridal Shower and Wedding Day gift ideas, click Gifts for the Bride. All gifts are personalized just for you and even gifts with engraving your gift ship out in just 1 – 2 business days.

Fabulous 4th of July Birthday Party Ideas

If your birthday falls on or near a holiday, you know how difficult it can be to separate your birthday from the holiday, and how hard it is to get a group of people together to celebrate. One of the best holidays to have a birthday is 4th of July. Lots of people love to get together for great food, fun and fireworks. You can have so much fun with a patriotic party theme and the weather is guaranteed to be warm.

Top Party Ideas for a 4th of July Birthday

Patriotic Fruit Appetizers

Make festive party kabobs with strawberries, bananas and blueberries. Love this one we found on Pinterest from Party City:

Ice Cold Drinks

With the blazing heat of July, ice cold beverages are a must. Don’t just throw soda cans and water bottles in an ice chest. Create cool drinks in individual glasses (mason jars are cheap and totally on trend right now) or in a giant drink dispenser. Here are 2 great ideas from a couple of blogs – click either image for more information on creating these fruity delights:

Fruity Drinks from mom.me

Cute mocktails from babycenter.com’s blog

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Decorated Mason Jar Glasses

Mason jars are awesome and you can buy a case of them at Walmart or Hobby Lobby. Help party guests differentiate their drinking glasses by creating these patriotic mason jars decorated with scrapbook paper – a fun idea from blogger Cheryl (click the image for her tutorial):

DIY Burlap Birthday Banner

Creating a personalized birthday banner is another fantastic way to make the birthday guy or gal feel special. Hobby Lobby and other craft stores sell blank burlap pennant banners which you can decorate any way you want. Use red and blue paint to write out their name or birthday message. You can also make a similar banner using scrapbook paper and twine or ribbon. Below is a “Happy Birthday” banner that can be purchased on Etsy. Next to that is a banner that says “Love” that I’ve included since it has a great tutorial on painting your own custom burlap sign.

Customize this Birthday Banner in Etsy shop TwoDoodlesDesigns

Click this image for a tutorial on creating your own burlap birthday banner

 

Red, White and Blue Birthday Cake

This is where you want to keep the cake birthday themed. Don’t do a flag design with a fruit topping or frosting – if you do, it won’t really feel like a birthday cake. Whether you plan to bake a home made cake or order one from a bakery, keep the red, white and blue color scheme with some stars or fireworks, but stay away from flags and keep it birthday oriented with a “Happy Birthday” message.

Patriotic Birthday Cake from Tita’s Cakes & Creations in San Antonio, TX.

Red White and Blue Ombre Cake from Foodista.com

Patriotic Birthday Cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sparkler Birthday Candles

Top the cake with sparkler candles from your local party store, or buy some online. We found the ones below at Shindigz.com.

Sparklers

When the sun goes down, let everyone have some fun with sparklers. Keep everyone’s hands safe by using a solo cup to separate their hands from the sparks – a fabulous safety tip for kids and adults from stockpilingmoms.com

DIY Fair Games

Hostess with the Mostess blog has excellent party games with a county fair theme which are perfect for any 4th of July party. Click the image below for instructions on DIY ring toss, balloon darts and more.

DIY county fair fames from blog.hwtm.com

American Flag Party Favors

Send party guests home with these memorable American Flag party favor bookmarks from Kyle Design. Choose from 30 colors to personalize for each guest. You can also engrave the back with their name and the date.

Personalize this patriotic bookmark from kyledesigns.com

More Great July 4th Party Ideas:

Follow our 4th of July Celebration board on Pinterest for other great Independence Day Party ideas.

#4thofjuly #julybirthday #july4thpartyideas

Get Inspired with These Unique Father’s Day Gift Ideas

Father’s Day is Sunday, June 15, 2014.

If your dad is like mine, he can be a little (scratch that – a lot) hard to shop for. I know he loves when I get him something personalized, but several engraved keychains and picture frames later, I had run out of ideas (and I think he’d run out of desk space). Then I realized something. My dad is extra special. Why should I get him something “typical” for Father’s Day (#1 dad mug? new tie?) when I can give him something that shows him the many ways in which he’s special to me.

So, I started to make a list of all the things my dad has taught me. Turns out, there are a ton of cool gifts I can give him. Watch this short video to see what I’m talking about:

What did your dad teach you?

Celebrate the lessons he taught you with a meaningful Father’s Day gift from Kyle Design. Pick from 100s of unique designs on cool gifts for dad like flasks, business card cases, tape measures, money clips (and more!) and customize it with his favorite color and an engraved message about an important thing he taught you. It will be the best gift he’s ever gotten.

Recovery Gifts for Sobriety Anniversaries, Birthdays and Milestones

In the U.S. the #1 health problem isn’t cancer, heart disease or even obesity. It’s addiction. One in 12 adults have an alcohol problem and the numbers are higher for illegal drug use and prescription pill abuse. Chances are you or someone you know struggles with an addiction of some kind.

Thanks to AA and other substance abuse recovery programs, more Americans are getting sober every day. For someone who has beat an addiction, every day of sobriety is something to celebrate. Reaching sobriety milestones – 30 days sober, 6 months, 1 year and beyond are major accomplishments for recovering alcoholics or drug addicts. Programs refer to these milestones as anniversaries or birthdays.

Is your sister celebrating her 1-year sober birthday? Maybe your husband has been clean for 10 years. Your son might have come out of rehab a new man who you’re so proud of him for making the commitment to clean and sober living.

Recovery gifts are a wonderful way to show your support for your friends and family members who struggle with addiction.

Get them something besides a chip or a coin to express how important their sobriety is to you. Some gift ideas include:

♦ Engrave a family bookmark to thank your husband or wife for choosing family over addiction.

♦ Personalize a Big Book wooden memory box and fill it with notes of all the good times you’ve enjoyed together since your mom or dad has gotten clean.

♦ Customize a new beginning money clip with an engraved congratulatory message for your son or brother.

♦ If you’re a sponsor, engrave your phone number on an I’m A Phone Call Away gift to remind him or her that you’re always there for them.

♦ Or, if you’d like to thank a sponsor for getting you to your sobriety birthday or anniversary, add a thank-you note to a coffee clip magnet or other unique recovery gift.

At Kyle Design, you can shop unique gifts for sobriety milestones.

Gifts include Kyle’s exclusive etched metal designs that are symbolic of new beginnings and recovered families, such as the sunset, tree of life, cross, Big Book and more. Every item is handcrafted and customized with your color choices and many gifts can also be engraved. Personalize a sobriety night light, keychain, locket, pill box, ornament, jewelry box or other meaning gift for someone you love. Click Shop Recovery Gifts for Kyle’s exclusive selection of sobriety themed products.

Meaningful Sobriety Quotes

“AA is not for people who need it, its for people who want it.”

“If you’re not moving away from a drink you’re moving closer to it.”

“Sobriety is a journey; not a destination.”

“Call your sponsor before, not after, you take the first drink”

“We can be positive that our drinking was negative”

“If I think, I won’t drink. If I drink, I can’t think.”

“Even my worst day in sobriety is better than my best day drunk.”

“When all else fails, the directions are in the Big Book.”

“Why recovery never ends: the disease is alcoholISM, not alcoholWASM!”

“A coincidence is a miracle in which God chooses to remain anonymous.”

“Having a resentment is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die.”

“An alcoholic without a sponsor is like leaving Dracula in charge of the blood bank.”

“The first thing in the human personality that dissolves in alcohol is dignity.”

“First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.” -Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald

“Alcoholism isn’t a spectator sport. Eventually the whole family gets to play.” -Joyce Rebeta-Burditt

“If drinking is interfering with your work, you’re probably a heavy drinker. If work is interfering with your drinking, you’re probably an alcoholic.”

“My sobriety depends on who God is, not who I am.” -Duane M.

“Living our pre-AA active daily lifestyle is akin to switching seats on the Titanic.”

“The chains of alcohol are too light to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.”

“Whatever you put before your sobriety; you shall surely lose.”

“Regarding hanging out at bars: If you hang out at the barbershop long enough you’re bound to get a haircut.”

 #sobriety #sobrietyquotes #sobrietygifts #recoverygifts #soberliving